training

Triathlon Training Camp Summary (aka I survived Fat Camp!)

/ hoodieruns / 1 Comment
I apologize for how long it’s taken me to get this post up. A few of you have been poking me to find out how fat camp was and I kept responding, “Awesome! I’m writing a blog post… it’s coming!” Here is is three weeks later and I’m only just getting it posted.
March 3rd through 10th I was away in Panama City Beach to spend a week training with the Fighting Koalas.  One word description of the week: incredible.
I can’t believe how much I accomplished in the week, even with a bum knee! This camp was well organized, well run and so. much. fun. Of course, it helped that the group of people I spent the week with were awesome too. In case you want to check out the camp for yourself, you can find more at: www.panamacitytrainingcamp.com. It is very competitively priced and the coaches are amazing, answering all kinds of questions, offering support and feedback on the fly as you’re doing the workouts. 
Here’s how my week went down…
Saturday 3 March
Picked up @FitBoundy from Clappison’s Corners, aka Mecca For All That Is Camouflaged. Seriously, there were at least four people in line at Tim Horton’s wearing camo. I could only see them because they didn’t blend into the background of a grubby roadside coffee stop. When they went outside… poof! Gone.
There’s a Dodge Neon in this picture, can you see it?

From the rear

 We then made our way to Buffalo for our flight to Panama City Beach. The weather over the states was really poor that day, so we were delayed by an hour and a half in Atlanta and arrived in PCB just in time to go to the welcome meeting on Saturday night. It wasn’t so nice

Sunday 4 March

Lots of machinery! Ginger is 3rd bike on the right from the bottom.

It was sideways raining on Saturday night and I was really concerned that the weather wouldn’t clear in time for Sunday’s start to the camp. I was pleasantly surprised however, on waking up on Sunday morning. The day was clear, with a cool wind.  That morning, we did 40km of biking, getting a glimpse of Michael Jordan’s home. This was by far the longest ride I’ve had on Ginger. My lady parts were sore after but I didn’t care because I was FAST. (Sidebar: when I got home I tweeted @Cervelo to give them my love and they paid it forward, retweeting me to their 12,000+ followers!) I so very much love my P1.

That bike ride, for me, was the start of a week-long endorphins high. The best descriptor of this feeling was that it’s pretty much the exact same feeling as finishing a race.

After a quick lunch, we headed to the pool, a 2.5K run there and 2.5K back afterwards. I spent an hour in the pool, the first time I’d swam since the fall of last year.

After supper we went for a walk in Park Helen, scoping out some trails and historical buildings.

I was in bed by 8PM and asleep by 8:10PM. Not even kidding.

The setting sun from our balcony

Monday 5 March
We immediately headed off to the pool (2.5km run) in the morning.The main set on Monday, and keep in mind that I was in the slower/lower volume lane, was about 1200m. That’s a big deal for me. I’m not a big swimmer and I’ve got terrible form but there is something about a giant pool and 50m lanes that make me a guppy.

After lunch was a cycle, time trial styles.We did 10K warm-up, then 5 repeats of the 3K time trial sprint. I was pleased with my abilities, getting progressively faster.  I was pretty sore from the ride the day before but after about 10minutes, I was numb and flying on my Ginger. God I love that bike. I got sun burnt on the backs of my legs during this ride. So much for no sunburns in 2012…

That afternoon, right after the bike, we did a 5K run along the beachfront road. Lots of honks. Must have been my lobster red legs and face and pasty white arms…

The wonky eye comes out when I’m dopey. Which, really, is pretty much all the time.

The evening was a dinner out as a group. I had a giant plate of pasta… guess why… Also, I ate about three loaves of bread on top of the pasta. Starvin’ Marvin!

Early to bed again but I think I made it until 9PM this night.

Lines of beach chairs in front of our condo and the waters of the Gulf



Tuesday 6 March
More swimming (2.5k run to the pool, rode back) in the morning. My knee was sore from the run on Monday and the afternoon bike was one I didn’t want to miss!

For the afternoon session, we rode for 3 hours on the Ironman Florida course. @FitBoundy and I covered 30km out and 30km back, a whopping 60km bike ride for me. That’s both the LONGEST RIDE I’VE EVER DONE and probably close to a third of the total kms I’d put on Ginger! This ride was awesome. We were pushed by the wind going out and needed some help from Koaches  Mat and Evan to get us back as quickly. At the halfway point, we stopped to have a snack of PB sandwiches and gatorade. We were careful to watch for alligators too.

That afternoon we checked out Pier Park (shopping, not historical or nature). Found the very important Starbucks and Marble Slab establishments.

I’ve never seen so many flying advertisements in one week!

The training day was wrapped up by a nutritional talk, given by Joanne Matters, of bountifullife.ca, a holistic nutritionist. Joanne taught us about getting sugar out of our diets and healthy fats in. It was very interesting and eye opening.

We’d bought some red wine by this point and I think we drank a bottle that night. I doubt I made it past 10pm… @FitBoundy was making fun of how quickly I could fall asleep.

More beach…

Wednesday 7 March
Guess how my day started! (Swimming, 1hr…)
Rode to swimming because I was trying to rest my knee for the run in the afternoon.

After the swim and some lunch, we headed out for a speed workout. My knee was acting up by this point so I had to take it easy(ier). I only could do 2×1.5km of the speed workout instead of the 4 repeats I wanted to do. In total, I did about 6km in that run workout with the warm up and cool down. Not too shabby for an old lady knee.

Afternoon was filled with more shopping, especially for groceries. We ate SO MUCH FOOD. Fat camp wasn’t really fat camp… I didn’t lose any weight (there, have since coming home though) but I ate probably 2200 calories a day, no problem.



Thursday 8 March
Ride to swimming because my knee sucked. Did 1600m in the pool like a rockstar. By this point in the week, both @FitBoundy and I were suffering from raw skin on our cheeks. Something about the combination of a lot of sun, wind, salt water and SPF50 made for sore spots on our cheeks that stung in the pool.

Epic Brick 8km run, 24km bike. 2.5hrs.Written out like that it doesn’t seem like much but this was probably my favourite workout of the week. It wasn’t supposed to be a race but your adrenaline and endorphins are up and all hell breaks loose.

The work starts with Koach Mat taking us through the loop – the 3km bike out and back on a narrow-ish recreational path with a tight turn around point at the top of the loop, more on this in a minute, then back into transition and out for a 1km run. Easy right? At the end of the first loop we had to commit to how many repeats we’d do. I picked 8, @FitBoundy picked 10 because she’s kind of a big deal. Everyone gives their number and away we go. I go flying out on the bike loop on my second repeat and because I’m a cocky shit, I’m going too fast at the turnaround and end up bailing of Ginger, into soft gravel. My left foot I managed to get unclipped and of course, that’s the knee I fall on. The sore one. My right foot is still attached to my pedal so I’m pretty quick getting up and rolling again, losing maybe 20 seconds for the whole episode. As I’m sprinting off to get back up to speed I’m grinning ear to ear, elated to finally be able to say that I’ve fallen off my bike and Ginger has officially be ‘worked in’. A few scrapes and (more) bruises for me, a couple of scuffs on Ginger but no one is worse for wear. I’ve learned a valuable lesson: unclip the inside foot on tight turns until I become a better cyclist.

Fast forward a few more repeats. Allie, an athlete training for her first 70.3 (that’s a half ironman for you non-triathletes), is knocking out her repeats. Keep in mind that while this wasn’t supposed to be a race, we’re all revved up like it’s a race and that makes us all a bit reckless. She comes flying into the turnaround on the bike, loses control and ends up in the swamp, still clipped in with her bike wheels in the air and her body and head underwater. Under warm, stagnant, stinky water. She’s the epitome of the saying, “Tits up in the rhubarb.” Oh, and it’s her birthday. Happy Birthday Swamp Girl! Luckily she’s fine and a trooper! She went on to finish her workout all with a big grin on her face and swamp weeds all over her and her bike! What a star!

In the evening was Deanne Deitz’s Super Foods talk. Coach Deanne, of www.coachdeanne.ca, is a triathlon coach, holistic nutritionist and personal trainer. Deanne taught us about a variety of super foods, foods that fight oxidization in the body and help us to maintain healthy, balanced insides. She also had chocolate energy balls (hehehe chocolate balls) for us to try. Check out the recipe here. They were delicious. I learned a bunch about adding super foods to my diet. Between Deanne and Joanne’s talks, I’m definitely motivated to make some changes to my diet!

That night we went out to Margaritaville for Allie’s birthday. We’d decided that since tequila is made from cactus plants and there’s only lime juice + sea salt + tequila that makes up a margarita, it’s almost exactly like a super food. A giant margarita and three pints later, I’m feeling pretty good and we all meandered home. Here’s some pictures from the evening to give you an idea of the mood.

Balloon hat wars

@FitBoundy and I

@FitBoundy and Swamp Girl

Almost everyone from camp that week!

I owned those nachos. Diet changes were implemented AFTER.

Friday 9 March
The very last swim… le sigh. I have a big soft spot in my heart for that tank of water. Drove there and back and didn’t use my legs for the entire swim. My knee was trashed so I was up close and personal with the pool buoy. My shoulders were pretty fatigued as well so this was my lowest volume swim day of the trip. While I was in the pool for an hour, I only did about 1km, spending plenty of time socializing and whinging.

The rest of the day was spent doing the relay. We were broken into teams of four and had to do a half hour workout in every 2hours. I did a 4km run and then ~5.5km of walking total + nutrition talk with Deanne. My knee said no thank you to any more running or gym workouts after the 4km run first thing. @FitBoundy and I used some of our time to track down a duffel to get our gear home.

Target shopping
Trying to open the bag…
Apparently I’m special and struggle with zippers
@FitBoundy and Kenny Chesney

The dryfit/workout clothes explosion, tamed.

The last workout, term used loosely, was another walk on the beach at dark with the whole camp to wrap up the week. It was great to rehash some of the favourite points of the week and say our goodbyes, all with the cool salt waters of the Gulf to ease sore muscles. A great end to a great week.

Saturday 10 March – Travel day.

Random collection of other stuff:
– Koach Mat has the craziest diet: icecream after workouts. He ate 2 quarts in a week. Dill pickles and yogurt (gack!), and the bestest yummiest stirfries of all time. Hint: soup, guacamole and peanut butter. Awesome.
– I’m considering getting a tattoo of gear grease marks on my calf because I had ‘rookie badge’ marks all week. Just kidding.
– Don’t forget to have salt in your diet, especially when you’re working out this much! Pringles… mmmm….
– I heart triathlons.
– I heart working out. Any ideas on how I can make training my full time job?
– The one thing I didn’t capture very well in this post is the high I felt all week. Working out so much, pushing yourself further and faster than you’ve gone before is incredible. The sunshine, the warmth, the camaraderie, the exhaustion, the food, the feeling of accomplishment, it’s all delicious and empowering and motivating.

Week Totals
Run: 35.5km
Bike: 112.47km
Swim: 8km
Walk: 5.5km

Not surprising really

/ hoodieruns / Leave a comment

Just nicely home from Las Vegas over the weekend. We had a blast, celebrating the one year anniversary of our engagement and having fun with friends. We go every year with mostly the same group and it’s always a mixed bag of adventures, shenanigans and debauchery. As you might have guessed, this trip had a *wee* bit of an impact on my training plans… and the title says it all.

Monday OFF.
Tuesday 9K easy – completed
Wednesday Strength training – completed, in the hallway of the hotel b/c I’m not paying $25 for an hour workout.
Thursday 12K fartlek – fail.
Friday 8K easy – fail.
Saturday 7K easy – fail.
Sunday 14K easy – fail.
That’s 41K of missed training. 
At least this week is a new week and I’m off to a good start.
Monday OFF.
Tuesday 10K easy – completed. I’ve also got volleyball and soccer tonight.
Wednesday Strength training
Thursday 8K easy
Friday 9K total w/ long hills
Saturday 8K easy
Sunday 17K easy
Sunday could prove to be a challenge as I’ve got my cousin’s wedding on Saturday night and we’re staying out of town. Since I put on (another) 2lbs while in Las Vegas, I’ve got a goal to be extra healthy this week to drop that weight and get my kms done. Saturday night will include lots of water, and dancing my ass off and I’m doing that long run come hell, hangover or high water.
I’ve also got another chance to redeem myself. I’m calling it “penance” for the Las Vegas trip. The first full week of March, I’m headed to Panama City Beach for a week long triathlon training camp. I think that with swimming, biking and running, I’ll more than make up for that missed 41K.
And now for your viewing pleasure, a few shots from my trip:
Yes that is Emmett Cullen (aka Kellan Lutz)

So much better looking in real life

Caesars – my shopping mecca

Caesars at dusk
There were many more but I’d need to add an 18+ disclaimer to my blog.
Also, one last surprise from the trip to come. Stay tuned.

Marathon Training: It Has Begun

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It is day four of Marathon Training: The Quest For Boston. So far, I am four out of four for completing workouts. Here’s what my week as looked like so far:
Mon: OFF (I’m so good at these days. I kill them.)
Tues: 9K easy
Wed: strength training
Thurs: 11K easy

The runs on Tuesday and Thursday I did in the morning before work. As tough as it is to get out of bed and get moving, it’s definitely better than waiting until the evening to get the workout done. That’s what happened on Wednesday. I couldn’t haul myself out of bed so told myself that I’d do strength training in the evening. That  could have been disastrous but luckily, my favourite show, Republic of Doyle, is on Wednesday nights. So, I made a deal with myself. No Republic of Doyle unless I worked out during or after it. I chose during because an hour long workout after would have had me up until 11PM and I needed to get up early to run in the morning. As Jake got to the bottom of an attempted murder and antagonized poor b’y, Sergeant Hood, I worked my way through the Koalas strength training program.

2 sets of 12-15 reps of the following:
hamstring curls
shoulder press
bench press
shoulder flys
bicep curls
tricep kickbacks
weighted squats
weighted lunges
tricep press
calf exercise from physio on each side.

core:
one set of 88’s
20 sit up twists
1min plank

Last Sunday, prior to the official start of training, I completed a 14.75K run too and had done a long run up to 17K in January as well. Nothing spectacular but definitely confidence boosters for the work that is coming in the next 16 weeks.

So there you have it.

@FitBoundy, @cellagirl, @bigbrnz and @Leslie_Morton – what’s going on with your training???

speed wobbles or fumbles, I’m not sure which

/ hoodieruns / 2 Comments

Yesterday I officially signed up for the Ottawa Marathon on 27 May. I’ve got two good friends that are also training for it, plus another friend who is training for Around the Bay. Between the three of them, @runnrgrl, my sister-in-law when she’s in town and various TV shows on my BlackBerry Playbook, I have no shortage of people to run with. Despite my support network, I’m still really worried about getting the training in. It’s not just about motivation anymore though. It would seem that 2012 is going to be the year of the injury.

We are on day 12 of  2012 and I’ve got one busted index finger and now a strained calf that will not settle down. It’s been tight/sore for about three and a half weeks, according to my training log. No particular traumatic injury to it, just a note “R calf tight, feels strained” in my log after a long run. Yesterday, over my lunch break, I did a 5.4km run and the calf is now very sore. As in, walking down a flight of stairs is better done leading with the left leg exclusively. No alternating because that just makes the calf hurt more. Maybe because I was so speedy (ha!) on my run yesterday I got the wobbles and made the injury worse? Or, more likely, it hasn’t really had a chance to heal and I’ve fumbled this injury.

So, I guess this means that I need to book many physio appointments in the near future. An 18 week training plan for Ottawa would have me starting next week. A 16 week plan would give me some more time to heal. That would also help me narrow down the training plan choices…

workout roundup:
5 Thursday – off? I think so, can’t actually remember and I don’t have my log with me.
6 Friday – off.
7 Saturday – off.
8 Sunday – off.
9 Monday – off.
10 Tuesday – 60mins volleyball, 50mins soccer
11 Wednesday – 30mins run
12Thursday – 50mins soccer scratch that, likely spin instead for the calf.
13 Friday – spin and strength or rest and strength
14 Saturday – ~8km in Eastbridge if the calf feels better.
15 Sunday – long run of about 14km if the calf is ok. If not, spin.

I think I’ll just run it off

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Last night after the day of the fat finger, I thought I might maybe take a day off. That worked until the movie, Two Weeks Notice, ended and my distraction tactic disappeared. Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock did a great job of keeping me distracted but unfortunately, the movie isn’t all that long. Coinciding with the end of the movie was Albert the cat’s disappearance from my lap to one of her many snooze locations. Suddenly both my legs and mind are free and since ME was out at hockey my thoughts immediately turned to “I want ketchup chips.”

“Wait. That’s a bad idea there Porkchop. You overindulged all holiday season. It’s time to lay off the chips a bit.”

“Good point Self. I should go for a run.”

“Yes you should…Porkchop.” My inner Self, such an asshat.

Forty minutes later I’d done an easy 5.6K at 1% incline on the hamster wheel with plenty of warm up and cool down to encourage the tight calf to relax. This morning the calf is only slightly tight. A good improvement. During the run, the finger ballooned up but was soon sorted with some Advil. Apparently I can’t just run this one off.

Keep your fingers crossed for me as I wait for the follow up call from my doctor, because I certainly can’t.

4 Jan – ran 40mins, 5.6KM, 1% incline.

so much for in like a lamb

/ hoodieruns / 1 Comment

I’ve been a busy girl the last few days. Let me give you a quick run down of my year thus far:
1 Jan – 17.14km run with @runnergrl
2 Jan – sore calves so easy 35min spin and upper body + core strength session
3 Jan – 50mins of indoor soccer and possibly broke my finger.
4 Jan – two hours of doctor’s office and xray visits. One splinted finger.

I’m cursing words with f, t, g, v, b, and r in them today.

Early morning run!

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After Sunday’s sore leg and bum episode, I took yesterday off to recoup.  This morning, I told myself that I’d go out for an easy 10 minute run and see how I felt and make a decision from there. It was minus three degrees Celsius this morning when I started my run. Plus windchill. Very chilly! That cold air made my eyes water, my nose run and my feet fleet.  Nine minutes into my run, I’d already covered 1.6km and I continued to push the pace from there, covering another 3.2km in 16:55. By then I was warmed up and I dialed it back to a gentler pace to finish off the run (6.67km in total). Total time 36 minutes.  To recap: that’s a four minute improvement of time from Sunday’s run. My ass is officially unbroken!

Tonight I’ve got volleyball and soccer.  Busy night.